A Practice for Working with Strong Emotions

“From moment to moment, we can choose how we relate to our emotions. This power of choice gives us freedom, and it would be crazy not to take advantage of it.” — Pema Chödrön

When it comes to working with anxiety, we need as many tools on our proverbial tool belt as possible. With that in mind, I want to introduce you to the practice of RAIN. RAIN is a technique that was developed by Buddhist teacher Michele McDonald which I have found to be instrumental in tackling strong forms of emotions that have come up for me over the years. While different words are sometimes applied to the acronym, commonly RAIN stands for Recognize, Accept, Investigate, and Non-Identification. Let’s do it together.

Begin by sitting in shamatha. Now bring your attention to a strong emotion, something already present or bubbling right beneath the surface.

Recognize it: you can place a name on the emotion if you would like such as “frustration,” “sadness,” “joy,” or “excitement.” If you sense a momentary reprieve from strong emotions, you can even ask yourself, “How am I feeling right now?” and notice what comes up. Here, we are not judging these emotions as good or bad. We are simply recognizing the emotional landscape that is present today. After a few minutes of familiarizing yourself with these emotions . . .